Huffington Post - Howard SchweberThis week has elicited a plethora of reactions as I have observed events, some of them quite surprising.
I was trying to figure out whom McCain reminded me of in the debates, until a friend supplied it: Captain Queeg. "Obama just doesn't understand. By scientific methods I proved that the strawberries were taken from the locker. It would be dangerous to let that man assume control of the ship in a storm." The hunched shoulders, the strange pained sneer -- a combination of a soul in torment and a petty tyrant -- the oddly mechanical delivery, it was Bogart in The Caine Mutiny. As for Obama, well, his performance has been analyzed enough.
Which is something that Obama has to find a way to highlight: the question of character, as demonstrated in the personalities that each man revealed during the debate. It's not just that McCain shoots from the hip, goes with his gut, and panics in a crisis, although all of those traits have been richly manifestled in the past week. Conversely, it's not just that Obama stays cool, respects his elders even when he thinks they have gone round the bend, or looks good in a suit. Although he does.
Beyond that, the candidates revealed something about their personalities. Nothing new, necessarily, but undecided voters should have been paying attention, and Obama should figure out a way to make them focus. McCain showed his mean streak, and his tendency toward personal pettiness. Obama showed . . . well, his honor. It is not honorable to be nasty or disrespectful to John McCain, even if you think him a dangerously deluded man. It would not be honorable to pretend that there are no points of agreement, or to deny credit where it is due.So I have new nicknames for them both: Captain Queeg and The Honorable Schoolboy....................
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